Gravity Falls: The Depths
by TheOptimisticSpectator
Summary: In this thrilling series, An explosion occurs at the base of Gravity Falls' waterfall, and the town finds there to be a complexity of underground caverns. In haste, the town decides to send the military, agents and a cave exploration team into the winding tunnels of this colossal underpass. Join Dipper, Mabel, and others as they charter a voyage...into the Depths. Rated T - M.
1. The Big Boom

**Chapter 1: The Big Boom**

 _ **DISCLAIMER:** Before you read this series, please consider reading the short story, One-Shot: Wendy's Mother, the Demolitionist, beforehand. Otherwise, some stuff may not make sense to you at the start of this._

 _ **WARNING:** This story contains graphic content, such as swearing, blood & gore, and psychological horror. Viewer discretion is advised._

 _Though you're missing out on a really cool story if you do decide to skip. Just saying._

* * *

"Wendy? Wendy?" Dipper called out into the woods on the outskirts of town. For days now, she had gone missing, and Dipper, along with a plethora of people who knew her, were getting worried. Ever since the incident with her mother, she had just up and disappeared.

After hours of constant searching throughout the entire town, he was starting to become very worried. He had no idea why Wendy was missing, but he wanted to make sure that she hadn't left town, or…

"Come on now, Dipper." He said out loud, pulling the trademark of talking to himself. "If I were Wendy, what would I do?"

Now, in all respect, placing oneself in one's shoes is possibly the dumbest thing that only writers with garbage plots would do, and it doesn't work in real life, either. Unless one were to actually enter the mind of a person-

"The base of the waterfall!"

Okay, no. That's not how this works. He didn't just suddenly get this idea to pop into his head out of nowhere. How would HE, of all people, even know where the girl went? He's, like, 13 years-

"I should get going now!" He proclaimed, rushing off to the base of the-

Hey, NO! You can't do that, it makes the author look like he can't advance the plot in a better fashion-

And so Dipper took off towards his destination, determined to see if he could locate Wendy and get to the bottom of this-

 **STOP! YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'RE BREAKING MY IMMERSION REEEEEE-**

* * *

"...God, why is this town so spaced apart?" Dipper said, panting heavily as his weak muscles protested to the extensive running he had just done. Finally, he was near the location. From above the pine trees, he could see the massive waterfall, the thunderous sound of water cascading down rocks emanating from afar. Dipper was starting to get nervous as he got ever so closer to-

"Hey, whatcha doin'?"

"AAAAH!"

Dipper yelped in fright as he heard a voice nearby, from up above. His head swiveled as he directed his attention to the silhouette hanging from one of the tree branches like a monkey. They dropped down to the ground in a swift movement, and Dipper could make out that it was a girl. As she came out of the shadows and into the sunlight, Dipper started to make out her appearance.

The first thing he noticed was the flashy hair. She had a pixie haircut for her dark, brunette hair, save for a few blue highlights running up to the roots. Her hazel eyes glimmered in the evening light, along with the sunglasses she was sporting. Her skin was pale, which made the freckles on her cheeks stand out. As for her outfit, she wore a blue tank top, white shorts, and white shoes with blue stripes. Dipper's eyes moved down to her chest and noticed a silver heart strung on a chain necklace.

"Whatchu lookin' at, bud?"

Dipper immediately turned red in the face as he realized how churlish it was stare at her chest.

"O-oh, uh...sorry…"

Despite his discomfort, he didn't plan on getting distracted from the task at hand. He shook his head, making eye contact with the girl, who was staring back at him with a grin. His eyes couldn't help but frequently dart to the sides around the girl, a result of his constant state of nervousness.

"Look, I have to get going. It was, uh, nice meeting you, I guess-"

"What? You're going already? Come on now, at least tell me your name. I'm Anna."

Dipper groaned inwardly, looking back at the waterfall.

 _Well_ , he thought. _I guess it's no harm to just tell her my name._

Trying for a smile, Dipper brought out his hand to shake.

"Eh, I'm Dipper. Nice to-"

He yelped in pain as his hand almost imploded from the raw, unadulterated strength that Anna compressed into his hand as she grabbed his hand and shook it. Dipper had no idea where this strength was coming from, as she didn't look particularly muscly, but it was legitimately breaking his hand. He wheezed in suffering as he struggled to not fall to his knees and scream in pain.

"Nice to meet you, Dipper! Let's be sure to hang out sometime, huh? I get awfully bored just climbing around the trees sometimes."

" _I'llbesuretotellyouwheni'mavailable."_ Dipper just barely managed to utter out of his mouth as his consciousness was starting to shut down from the pure agony that was throbbing from his hand. As she released her grip, it felt like two machine presses that had previously been squeezing his hand had now let go, and it took all of Dipper's willpower not to crumple to the ground and grip his hand as if it had just gotten cut off.

With a strained smile, Dipper swiveled around, scurrying towards the waterfall.

Yet, despite how painful the interaction was, Dipper felt his heard pound in his chest as he looked back at the girl.

* * *

Around 10 minutes later, accompanied by heavy panting, Dipper had finally reached the base of the waterfall. Without any sort of surprise reveal whatsoever, he saw Wendy sitting on a rock bordering on the water, holding a sizable crate in her hands. She seemed to be reminiscing.

Dipper felt his heart lift as he saw Wendy. He was glad she hadn't seem to have done something rash. He stood a couple meters away, placing his hands on his knees as he tried to gain his breath. After a few moments, his respiratory system had recovered, and he looked up to where Wendy was sitting. Unsurprisingly, she had noticed his heavy breathing already, and turned her head to see him. Dipper could see a small smile flash on her face, and she beckoned with one arm for him to come over. He complied, making his way towards her.

"Hey, dude. You can come sit on the rock, if you want."

Dipper did so, making sure to keep his feet pressed against the rock so as to not slip into the lake below.

"So, Wendy, why have you been absent for so lo-HOLY CRAP, WENDY!"

His shock was justly warranted, as he noticed that Wendy was carrying a whole crate of _dynamite_. It was more unnerving to him that she was looking down at it in longing.

"Wendy...is there, uh, a reason that you're _carrying a whole box of dynamite?"_

She looked up at him, then back at the dynamite box, realizing how this looked, and chuckled.

"Sorry about that, dude. Just reminiscing."

"I see…."

Dipper did not see.

"It's...about my mother."

"Oh."

Now that she had mentioned that, Dipper felt mentally handicapped for not inferring that in the first place. He remembered the incident with Katrina, Wendy's mother, just the day before. Having set off explosives at the wrong part of a construction site, she almost crushed an animal sanctuary she was having built at the time. In shame, she went out of town.

Dipper was depressed just thinking about how tragic the whole event was, especially since she was such a unique and charitable person. He was mortified to think how Wendy must have felt after that incident.

"She's done this before, you know."

Dipper turned towards her, bewildered by what he had just heard.

"W-wait, what?"

Wendy nodded silently.

"Washington, Montana, Arkansas...she's had...incidents...like this before."

Dipper opted not to say anything as she went on to explain.

"As wonderful as she is, my mother is a bit...reckless. Ever since she found a passion for blowing things up, she considers it an art form, and in the constant quest to find a greater explosion than the last, she often loses her sense of responsibility and self-control. Honestly, i'm not even sure this obsession with explosions is healthy. Granted, she found a somewhat-healthy profession to express her interest, but it's still worrying-"

 **Alright, there's too much backstory. TIME TO ADVANCE THE PLOT!**

As Wendy was continuing her explanation, Dipper noticed that there was a small campfire present near the rock they were sitting on, which worried Dipper as he directed his attention back to the crate in Wendy's arms.

"Hey, uh, Wendy, you should put that down…"

Wendy hesitated for a moment, then nodded.

"You're right."

Then, not noticing the campfire that was on the ground next to the rock she was on, Wendy obliviously began to move to place the crate _on top of the fire_. Dipper nearly had a heart attack as she saw her move.

"WENDY, STOP!"

Frightened by the sudden yelling, she stumbled and dropped the crate onto the campfire, and the fuses from a couple sticks of dynamite _were lit by the fire as they fell out of the crate_.

Inwardly, Dipper was screaming at himself for warning her in the worst possible way.

As he saw the sparks as the fuse began to run down the line, adrenaline kicked in, and Dipper scrambled over to do something. Wendy noticed what she had done and, in hysterical panic, scrambled away while screaming in hysteria.

The two got tangled in their attempts and fell behind the rock, only a foot away from the impending explosion. Dipper's heart began to beat like a freight train as he saw the fuse on the dynamite sticks get terrifyingly close to the stick.

" **KEEP YOUR HEADS DOWN!"**

Out of nowhere, Anna came running up, picking up the crate of dynamite, along with the burning sticks, and YEETED the whole ensemble towards the waterfall. The crate, along with the several sticks of dynamite inside, disappeared behind the waterfall.

After a few moments, Dipper's adrenaline began to fade slowly, yet he began to break down into tears as he realized how close to death he had come. Wendy followed suit, sobbing in both guilt and relief.

"I-I'm so sorry, Dipper…I'm just as reckless as my mother…"

Dipper didn't care to respond, mostly because he was inwardly feeling a flurry of emotions from the events that had just transpired. He looked up at Anna, who was shaking in fear as she realized what she had done in the heat of the moment. She fell to her knees, exhausted from the life-threatening situation.

Dipper stopped his bawling, and put one hand on the ground. He sighed in relief. Unnerving as it was, he glad it was over-

* * *

 _ **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!**_

The very ground below Mabel's feet shook, and she staggered around in shock as it did.

"What was that?!"

She looked towards the source of the sound. From the waterfall, about half a mile away, she could see plumes of smoke billowing into the sky. It seemed like an explosion had gone off over there.

Mabel began to panic. From what she had heard earlier, Dipper had planned on searching around the entire town for Wendy, and there was a chance that he was over there.

"I'm coming, Dipper!" She shouted in a blind panic, and began sprinting towards the location.

* * *

 _There was a audible ringing in Dipper's ears. He could hear nothing beyond the constant, high-pitched ringing that was encompassing his ears. He was absolutely sure his brain was addled at this point._

 _He looked over at Wendy, who was passed out, with several noticeable wounds peppering her body. He turned his head to look at Anna, who was stumbling around in the same fashion as he was._

 _He directed his attention to the waterfall. In the back of his mind, he was absolutely dumbfounded. He had thought that throwing the whole crate of dynamite into the waterfall would snuff out the fuses. Maybe one of them wasn't snuffed out._

 _However, there was no time to think about that._

 _Through much effort, Dipper shook his head, trying to clear his ears of the ringing._

 _After a few more moment, the ringing finally_ cleared up, and the sounds of yelling and sirens filled his ears instead. He looked around, dazed, and saw Mabel pop out of the treeline, running towards him with tears in her eyes.

After only a moment, however, his consciousness finally failed him as the explosion had addled his brain, and he crumpled to the ground, passing out.

* * *

 **Author Notes**

\- Shout out to _**Mademoiselle-Star2018**_ for contributing two characters to the story

\- New chapters will come out every weekend, 1 on Fridays and 1 on Saturdays

\- Reviews are encouraged and appreciated to feed my massive ego


	2. Discovery

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

 _ **WARNING:** This story contains graphic content, such as swearing, blood & gore, and psychological horror. Viewer discretion is advised._

 _Though you're missing out on a really cool story if you do decide to skip this._

* * *

 _"...Dipper…"_

…

…

…

 _"...Dipper!..."_

…

…

…

" _ **DIPPER!"**_

"WHAT?!"

Dipper awoke from his slumber, finding himself to be in a hospital bed. He looked to his left to see Mabel (carrying Waddles) and Stan sitting in visitor seats in the small hospital room, watching him. As soon as he stirred, the two bolted up and over to him.

"Thank goodness you're awake, Dipper! I was so scared!"

"Y-yeah…"

In truth, Dipper's memory was a bit hazy. At the current, he remembered a giant explosion, and seeing something behind the waterfall…

He wheezed a bit as Stan came in and wrapped him in a bear hug.

"What happened at the waterfall, bud?! We came over and saw you and some girl stumbling around like you had just been shell-shocked!"

Now Dipper's memory was starting to come back to him.

Wendy on the rock...

The crate of dynamite…

 _The near-death experience…_

Looking back on it, Dipper shuddered just thinking about it.

 _Wendy…_

Wait, Wendy!

Dipper looked up to Stan, worry written on his face.

"What happened to Wendy?!"

Stan released him from the bear hug and stood back, a grim expression on his face.

"She's okay, but...she's in bad shape. Apparently, the blast from the explosion sent shrapnel of flint in every direction, and some of it hit her across the body. She's gonna take a while to recover."

Despite how serious the situation sounded, Dipper was at least glad that she was alive. Better yet, he was surprised any of them had survived that, even more so that none of them got permanent hearing damage. It was nothing short of a miracle (or rather, plot), really.

However, his mind was severely addled, even now, and just this short interaction was already giving him a bit of a headache. He laid his head back and sighed.

"Can you guys turn on the TV? I need to clear my mind for a bit…"

Stan nodded, taking up the remote on the bedside table and turning on the TV.

"...After clearing out the rubble, the fire department is reporting a rather large cavern being revealed from behind the waterfall…"

Dipper perked up at hearing this.

"Turn it up."

Stan did so, and Dipper watched the news broadcast. As the reporter was talking, the cameraman zoomed in on the massive hole behind the waterfall. The view was a bit hazy, but Dipper could definitely see that it was a massive cavern, and it didn't stop there. He was sure that it had tunnels running underground.

As the three were captivated on the news, Mabel suddenly perked up as a thought occurred to her.

"Oh yeah! While I was running over to help, this guy came running as well to help. He was really pale, and he had this really cool necklace that had shark teeth running along it! Oh, and he was really cool too-"

Dipper began to tune out Mabel. It wasn't that she was annoying, but he was engrossed with the cavern that was revealed behind the waterfall.

 _There's even more mystery to this town than before?!_ He thought, absolutely enchanted by the idea of exploration. He wondered if he could find a way to create a cave exploration team, as he knew that cave exploring could definitely be dangerous if it wasn't-

"Currently, it seems that the town is sending in a small cave exploring team to go check out the depths of this cave."

Upon hearing this, Dipper felt an overwhelming urge to jump out of bed, head over to the team, and beg to join them on this adventure. However, just the thought of moving currently was a terrible one, and so he decided to lay back and think about what he could possibly do.

"...It is estimated that the exploration team will spend only 3 days at most to explore, if the tunnels even stretch that far. The team plans on using GoPros attached to their helmets to let viewers see their journey."

Dipper was excited hearing about this, and so decided he could satisfy his hungering curiosity by following their voyage through the screen. It would definitely serve as great entertainment for the following days he would be spending in the hospital, though he planned on getting out of here as soon as possible. He was sure that, in the coming days, the town would authorize for the caverns to be publicly explored.

* * *

 _6 hours later…_

Dipper was very surprised to find himself so deeply captivated by the journey of the cave exploration team thus far. Whereas Stan and Mabel had grown bored of the streamed trek only an hour in, and were now playing on their phones, Dipper never got tired of seeing tight tunnels suddenly opening up into huge caverns, stalactites looming overhead, the ponds of water that were found hidden within the confines of the caves inside…

In short, Dipper had his eyes glued to the screen since the start, and every moment was utterly wondrous to him. Of course, knowing Dipper, it wasn't too much of a surprise. The boy always found investigation, mystery and the sort to be fascinating in all of its different forms. It was one of the main reasons that he planned on either becoming an aerospace engineer or a marine biologist in life. The thought of discovering something new in the mass unknown...There wasn't a bigger excitement to him.

At this point in the journey, the cave explorers were wading across a small lake of waist-high water to the other side of a large cave. The person whose GoPro was taking up the stream currently was making comments about Speleology, the field that specialized in cave exploration.

Dipper looked towards Mabel and Stan, who had both fallen asleep. Mabel was laying on Stan's shoulder, with Waddles snuggled up in her lap. He smiled, thinking about how great of a family he had-

" _AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

A blood-curdling scream startled Dipper from his thoughts, and also awoke Mabel and Stan from their slumber. They all looked over to the screen, and were horrified by what they saw.

The GoPro camera shook around violently, then, for just a few seconds, it focused on a person, face down in the water. The person with the GoPro running the stream waded over to the person, yelling to ask if he was okay.

 _The person's body was severed in half from the torso down. His upper torso was floating around in the water, blood pouring out from his insides and turning the water around his corpse red._

 _Dipper watched on in horror as he saw something move around in the water. After a few moments of yelling in panic, another scream was heard, and the GoPro swiveled to see a man flail around violently, as if something below had grabbed him and was shaking him around like a dog toy. After only a few seconds of terror, his screams were cut off as he was pulled below the water, bubbles foaming around the area he disappeared._

 _One by one, the GoPro witnessed members of the cave exploration team either getting taken or slaughtered by some unknown malevolent being. Dipper sat in horror, watching as blood was splattered across the water and the rocks, and as cave explorers disappeared below the water without another sound._

 _Eventually, the only one left was the person with the GoPro streaming. He screamed in terror as he tried to escape from the pool, turning back towards whence he came and flailing towards it in utter panic._

 _He had just reached the edge of the lake when something pulled him in, and he was pulled below water. The GoPro was plunged below water, distorting the sound, and shook around heavily, unable to see past the bubbles and water that were covering the camera._

 _After only a moment, the GoPro resurfaced, and for one final, terrifying moment, in the dim light of the cave's unnatural light, the camera caught a glimpse of the monster that loomed just under the water. Its skin was sleek, and the light from the GoPro was able to capture the glimmering of teeth from its mouth, which were tainted with fresh blood. Above all, its orange eyes glowed menacingly in the darkness of the cavern._

 _Then, with a final hiss, it shot up towards the GoPro, the scream of the last cave explorer cut off as the camera cut to static._

…

…

…

…

The three sat, in shock, from what they had seen. As the graphic thoughts of those recent events ran through Dipper's head, it overwhelmed him, and he wretched over the side of his bed and vomited onto the floor below. Mabel began to cry as she shook, holding her Waddles in fear. Stan dashed for the phone, calling the police and hurriedly talking to them about what he had just seen.

Dipper, above all, was feeling light-headed and _sick_. What had he just seen? What the _hell_ had happened?

* * *

 **Author Notes**

\- New chapters come out every weekend. 1 on Fridays, and 1 on Saturdays.

\- Reviews are encouraged and deeply appreciated. Seriously, write some reviews, I read them.


	3. The Agency

**Chapter 3: The Agency**

In the terrifying hours after the program, the police had already taped off the caverns, with sirens blaring around town as the whole population was thrown into a panic. From out of his window, Dipper could see, from out of his window, people running around town, looking for their family, and doing all types of other stuff.

Dipper himself had been deemed able and ready to get out of the hospital around 5 in the afternoon. As he walked out the doors, alongside his sister and uncle, he realized that the general panic was getting to him as well. He had no idea how to address what had happened with those cave explorers, and he was honestly terrified to think about what had gone after them.

"Come on, we should head home, let the police sort this whole mess out."

"Yeah…" Dipper's voice trailed off as he his thoughts forced that scene he saw on the TV to replay in his mind, over and over. The terrified cries of the cave explorers, the sickening sound of flesh being ripped, the glistening skin of that….

 _Monster._

"What the hell was that thing?" Dipper muttered to himself, deep in thought. Mabel overheard his uttering.

"Hey, don't curse, Dipper." She said under her breath. The realization of what had happened on TV had hit Mabel so much harder, as she was more sensitive to people's feelings, and a _lot_ more innocent. In the minutes ensuing after the stream had ended, Mabel had began to sob profusely as she had just seen something traumatic.

" _Attention, all citizens of Gravity Falls. It is strongly suggested that you return to your homes and keep your entrances locked until further notice."_

A voice had come blaring out of the loudspeakers around town and had given the ominous warning without further explanation. As Dipper and the others were heading for the shack, Dipper noticed residents beginning to retreat to their homes in haste, most of them wearing fearful expressions.

Though the loudspeaker had not specified why they should return to their homes, Dipper understood why the announcement was made.

Whatever had killed that crew of cave explorers might be making its way up to the surface.

That thought alone sent a chill up Dipper's spine, and he shook it off in haste. Such thoughts were not belonging of Dipper. Most likely, it was the sudden death he had just seen that had stirred him up so much. Never before had he seen someone _die_ before. Sure, there were those videos on those really screwed up sites on the internet that would show people dying (that Dipper had to admit he looked at, his curiosity having gotten the best of him), but it was nothing compared to seeing someone die in _real time_ , and especially someone who he had only seen a couple _hours_ ago.

Dipper could hear a quiet sobbing coming from his left, and he glanced over to see Dipper holding Waddles against her chest and crying. She was probably having similar thoughts to his.

"Look, when we get home, I'll treat you guys to some nice dinner. It's been….a long day, to say the least."

To Dipper, that was an understatement. However, he was comforted by the thought of mental solace from the disturbing events that had transpired today.

Yet, even as the three were walking home, Dipper couldn't help but reflect on the caverns that the cave team had been exploring. What did this mean for the town? Was there a bigger mystery at hand?

…

…

…

What would happen next?

* * *

"Hello there once again, Mr. Stan."

Dipper looked up from the place he was sitting at behind the store counter to see Agent Powers and Agent Trigger standing at the entrance, where Stan had gone over to open.

"Great, these guys…" Stan muttered as he stepped to the side, allowing for the two agents to make their way in. They did so, leaving little trail drops of water behind them as it was raining outside.

"Place is still looking pretty good, I see." Agent Powers commented, his face set in a grim expression. Agent Trigger was definitely more cagey, as his lips were so tightly locked it almost seemed like he wanted to turn them into part of his face.

"Thanks...I guess…" Stan uttered idly, scratching the back of his head as he closed the door to the shop. The rain outside became muffled in an almost aesthetical fashion.

"So, look, I need to, uh, get straight to the point…" Agent Powers trailed off.

Dipper was a bit alarmed by his behavior. From the several times they had met before, both Agent Powers and Trigger spoke with such confidence. Now, it was like they were trying to tell Stan that his mother had died or something.  
"Well, what is it?" Stan inquired, eager to get the Agents going as he wanted to properly take care of his kids.

"This is…about the caverns." Powers started. "You all saw what happened, I'm going to assume."

Stan, Dipper, and Mabel (who had been sitting against the wall only a minute ago) nodded.

"Well, you see, the Agency's top brass have found out about, uh, about this...whole thing. Since we work side by side with the US government, we've been tasked to organize a new team for the cave systems, consisting of either the US military and PMCs, speleologists, and some….people we think...uh...could help in the investigation of what's going on down in those caverns."

It took only a second for Dipper to realize what the Agents were talking about.

"Wait, so you want to send _us_ , two kids and their uncle, to help investigate some giant, dangerous cave system alongside _PROFESSIONAL_ cave explorers?

Agent Powers put his hands up in surrender. "Look, I didn't want to rope you guys into this, honestly. But I have been told _specifically_ to pick you two….so yes."

Stan stomped up to Agent Powers, a look of sizzling anger on his face.

"You think that after what _we_ saw on that TV, those cave explorers dying so horribly, that I'm just gonna send my kids into oncoming _danger_? Look somewhere else!"

Dipper was a bit taken aback by Stan's tone. Never before had he heard him sound so furious.

Agent Powers ignored Stan's outbursts and turned to Dipper, his face deadset. Agent Trigger seemed even more tense now than before.

"The Agency finds you, Dipper, to be particularly excellent at investigation, considering your past...ventures."

Dipper's eyes widened as that statement was processed through his head.

"Wait...you know about all those? Have you guys been spying on me this entire _time_?"

Agent Powers moved past Dipper's outrage.

"We don't have time to go through all of this right now. Just be ready to meet up with the rest of the cave diving crew at 8:00 A.M. tomorr-"

"Hey!"

Stan suddenly went up and grabbed Agent Powers by the collar, his face inches from the agent's.

"I said look somewhere else, asshole. I'm not sending my niece and nephew into that pit of death- OOMPH!"

Stan doubled over as Agent Powers launched his fist into Stan's stomach. He crumpled to his knees, coughing profusely. Agent Powers looked back at Dipper, a deadpan expression on his face.

"This isn't a request. You _will_ meet up with the cave diving crew tomorrow at 8:00 A.M., in front of the entrance of the caverns."

He and Agent Trigger began to make their way out of the shop. Agent Powers looked back one last time, making eye contact with Dipper.

"We expect to see you there. If we don't…"

The agent flashed something from his jacket, which glimmered in the moonlight from outside. Dipper turned pale as he recognized it to be a _gun_.

With that final threat, the agent closed the shop door, leaving the ominous atmosphere of the shop to settle.

* * *

"Those sons of bitches…"

"Grunkle Stan, you shouldn't curse so much."

Stan grumbled as he moved from side to side at the front of the shop, Dipper and Mabel sitting behind the counter. Mabel was consoling herself by hugging Waddles, looking at the ground in thought. Dipper himself was rife with deep thought.

 _How did they follow my adventures?_

 _Why did they pick me, of all people?_

 _What happens if I don't go with their demands?_

All of these questions were swirling in Dipper's head. The brutal slaughter of the cave explorer team, the now-realistic idea of actual _monsters_ , the sudden arrival of the agents…

All of it was messing with Dipper's head.

"Look, Dipper…" Stan came over and planted himself in front of Dipper on one knee. "We can move out of town, or state or something. We don't have to do what they say."

Dipper felt his heart tug as he saw the desperation in Stan's eyes. He understood it completely. Despite him and Stan having gone through life-threatening situations before, there was a large amount of uncertainty for this particular one, especially considering the circumstances. Dipper had to choose between death or having to explore those ominous caverns, which most certainly held danger, after what Dipper had seen on the TV.

Dipper took a deep breath. He could think more easily when he was calm. After a few more moments, he finally opened his eyes, looking Stan in the eye.

"I'll go along with it."

Dipper could see the immediate worry and panic fill Stan's eyes. He looked as if he was about to protest, but decided to hold his tongue. He stayed kneeling for a few more moments, looking Dipper in the eye, wondering if it was plausible to go with any other alternatives to this.

Finally, he got up and turned around, heading for the kitchen.

"I'll make you both some sandwiches. We've...got a long day tomorrow."

* * *

By morning, Dipper, Stan and Mabel began to make their way towards the gathering near the entrance of the caverns. Mabel deemed that it was too dangerous to bring Waddles on this journey, and decided to leave him to be taken care of with Grenda and Candy.

As for Mabel, she had decided that she was not going to leave her brother alone with strangers to dive into the depths of those caverns. Stan was sure as hell not going to leave the kids, and he decided he was going to come along as well.

After a dozen minutes or so of walking, the three finally came face-to-face with the agents from the previous night, who were standing near the crowd that had manifested at the base of the big lake, gathered across from the opening in the caverns. At the docks, several boats were there to transport the whole cave exploration crew to the base of the caverns.

Agent Powers spotted the three walking down the trail and waited for them to come up.

"So...all three of you are coming along?"

Stan, though filled with anger against the agent, nodded silently.

"As we thought. Alright, meet up with the team. Just go through this crowd and talk to Allison Amber, one of the speleologists. She'll be wearing red cave-diving gear."

Dipper nodded and began to make his way through the crowd, alongside Stan and Mabel. As Dipper broke through the crowd, he immediately came face to face with a familiar face.

"Katrina?!"

Dipper looked up to see Katrina looking down at him, flashing a grin at him.

"Hey there, Dipper."

Despite what she had done only a few days ago, she seemed to have shrugged off all of the mistakes she had made, and was now standing boldly alongside a large crew of people.

As Dipper moved his vision across the crew, he noticed that there were dozens of people coming along. People in cave-diving suits, military and PMC personnel, and even some FBI agents. It made sense to Dipper. After all, they had no idea what they were going to face in those caverns.

"I'll catch up with you later. I can see that you're busy, judging from the way you pushed through that crowd. I'm guessing you're coming along as well for the adventure?"

Dipper nodded, though his reasoning for why was much more sinister than what he had assumed hers was.

"Then get to it. We've got a long journey ahead of us…"

That foreboding last sentence was a bit off-setting to Dipper. He didn't expect such a tone from someone as sprightly (and honestly a bit psychopathic) as Katrina.

With that, Dipper moved forward, and began to scan the group of cave-divers. Each of them had a small nametag on the front of their suit. Finally, Dipper spotted one of the divers with the last name ' _Amber'_ imprinted on the nametag.

"Ms. Amber!"

She directed her attention to Dipper. She looked young and quite pretty, almost in a nerdy way. She had freckles on her cheeks, and her brown hair was in a single elongated braid leading down to the upper part of her back. Her blue eyes focused on Dipper, and she smiled as she was greeted.

"Why hello there. I'm assuming you must be...Dipper?"

Dipper nodded.

"I was told that you and some others were going to join us on our venture. I'm a little...curious as to why, but I'll save that for later. You got here at a convenient time. You avoided all the press asking us questions, and we're just about to take off into the caverns."

With that, she turned around, said a couple more things to her fellow cave divers, then hopped into one of the boats, gesturing to Dipper and his family.

"Well, let's get going. We can talk more as we head further down into the caverns."

Dipper nodded, and so he, Mabel, and Stan all made their way onto the boat, along with a couple dozen other people. Behind him, he noticed that military, PMC, and the FBI agents were getting in separate, more militaristic boats.

"Here, you'll need to put this one."

Dipper's head swiveled back around to see Allison hand him a headband with a camera attached.

"Apparently, this whole cavern thing has gotten a _lot_ of people excited for the event, and so they're wanting to watch our journey."

Dipper felt a shiver run down his back as the headband camera reminded him of the gruesome slaughter of those cave explorers. Allison noticed his expression, her face becoming solemn.

"Yeah...I saw that too. It was...terrifying, to say the least. And i'll be a little honest with you, i'm pretty freakin' scared of heading down into those caverns, but at the same time...I feel pretty excited about this. After all, we're going to be the _frontier_ for finding potential new life down there, possible treasures, maybe even some _artifacts_."

Now that she had mentioned it, Dipper was starting to realize how right she was. Despite the lurking danger in those caverns, it naturally came with the excitement of uncovering mystery, and that was something that Dipper had a long-standing love for.

Invigorated, he took the headband camera and put it on, along with some other equipment and supplies that Allison was giving Dipper and his family, including the red cave-diving suits that Allison and her colleagues were sporting.

 _Brtttttttttttttttttttttttt._

The boat started up, and began making its way towards the entrance of the caverns. Dipper could feel his heart pounding both in fear and excitement as they came upon the depths. He wondered what these caverns would hold.

Monsters and other unknown dangers.

Treasure and artifacts.

And more…

Dipper couldn't wait to find out.

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

\- 2-3 chapters come out every weekend.

\- Reviews are encouraged, as they let me know who is reading my writings. The more reviews, the more focus a book gets.


	4. Into The Depths

**Chapter 4: Into The Depths…**

 _Bonk._

The boat bopped the side of the slippery, glistening rocks of the inner cave lightly, and the crew began to disembark from the boat.

"Be careful when you get onto these rocks, guys. They're very moist from the humid atmosphere."

 _Ew_ , Dipper thought to himself. He didn't like the word 'moist'. It sounded almost sexual in nature.

As Dipper came off of the boat, he marveled at the change in lighting from the outside. The giant cavern was luminescent as

Allison was designated to act as the Pine family's guide for the caverns, but she was also a fountain of knowledge when they were walking along the pathway of the cave. From the stalactites that lined the sides of pools of water, to reasons as to why caverns are shaped the way they are, she entertained the group with a multitude of facts, stories, and interesting theories over the course of hours.

Of course, by group I mean solely Dipper. Stan and Mabel had lost interest within the first 5 minutes and implored themselves to simply looking around.

Meanwhile, the massive entourage accompanying the cave explorers ensured to keep a couple meters behind the explorers themselves. This entourage consisted of the military, medical personnel, giant drilling machines, some non-uniform individuals, and even Agency officials, including Powers and Trigger.

 _Man, they really went all-out on this adventure,_ Dipper thought to himself. Of course, it made sense. Ever since the incident that had occurred with the previous explorers, the whole country had been focused on the caverns. Resources of all types were allocated towards finding out what was in those underground caves, including money, drills, top-of-the-line cave explorers and cartographers, and, of course, the military.

Dipper began to feel overwhelmed just thinking about it. Within the course of only a few days, Dipper had gone from playing with large ants to being in the middle of one of the most important explorations since Manifest Destiny.

All of this, for a single creature. Of course, it was very naive to assume that whatever that _thing_ was that had killed those explorers wasn't the only life that would be found in this place-

"Dipper, watch out!"

"Wha-aAAAAH!"

Dipper suddenly found himself slipping off of a particularly slippery rock, and within seconds he found himself tumbling down a steep decline in the path.

He yelped as his various body parts was thrown against the moist (ew) rock below, eventually sliding across flat ground as he reached the bottom of the descent. Groaning in pain, Dipper brought his head up. Luckily, the rock was very smooth, so Dipper had not received any severe wounds besides a couple bruises when he had tumbled down.

"Dipper! Oh my gosh, are you okay!"

He could hear Mabel calling out for him from above.

"Y-yeah, I'm fi-"

"AaaaAAHHH!"

Out of nowhere, he heard the sounds of a body rolling. After a few moments, Mabel slid across the ground, ending up next to him. Dipper was completely flabbergasted.

"Did you seriously just repeat my mistake?! You SAW me tumble down, and yet you still screwed up?"

Mabel brought her head up, groaning in pain. She grinned.

"Can't leave my brother alone in this place."

Despite mysterious atmosphere of the place, Dipper couldn't help but crack a smile at that.

"Are you guys okay down there?"

Dipper now heard Allison calling to them from above. From what Dipper could tell, he had only slid down a dozen meters or so down the slope.

"Yeah, we're fine down here. In fact, it seems, there is more to the path."

"Really? Alright…"

Dipper could hear shouting from above, then saw rope unfurl from the top and drop to the bottom. People began to make their way down, dropping onto the rock below. Some people lost their footing and staggered around whilst others straight up tumbled to the ground.

Meanwhile, at the top, a giant, metal box with four legs began making its way down the slope.

 _The Spider Mule_ , Dipper thought. Brought in by the military, it was intended to store the group's supplies, since they were such a large group. It was quite large, spanning over four meters tall, six meters wide, and nine meters long. A technological innovation, it was remote-controlled by one of the officials in the group.

Dipper could see the ends of its legs deploy something against the rock with every step it took going down the rock at a steep angle.

"Hey, Allison, how is it able to climb down the rock like that?"

Allison shrugged.

"Dunno. You should ask one of the military guys about that. My knowledge only extends to caves and such."

Dipper nodded, slightly embarrassed that he had asked the wrong person. He went up to one of the military officials, who was watching over his group with a radio in hand. He was distinguished by the camo hat he was wearing.

"Sir, how is the Spider-Mule able to climb down that rock like that?"

The official turned his head to look down at Dipper, and grinned, accentuating his Chevron-styled mustache. He spoke with a deep southern accent.

"Well, son, in short, it deploys an extremely strong adhesive at the bottom of its toes several times every time it takes a step. That whole machine was made purely for traveling steep terrain, and it serves well in these caverns. Of course, when we heard there was gonna be some slippery surfaces and smooth rock, we had to adjust the adhesive's properties, so now the sticky stuff itself is riddled with little spikes that cut through the thin layer of water that covers the rock and sticks to the rock itself. Quite fascinating, really."

 _That was nowhere near a short explanation,_ Dipper thought. However, he was glad that the guy had gone through the trouble of explaining it so well.

"I'm surprised you know so much about that." Dipper said, not realizing until after he had said it how rude that sounded. He covered his mouth in shame, but the guy simply chuckled.

"Don't worry, bud. I probably don't give off the impression of a knowledgeable guy. Well, I was one of the first beta testers for this thing, when they were using it in Syria to transport supplies for the troops."

Dipper nodded in understanding.

"So what's your name, son?"

"Dipper, sir."

"Dipper, huh? Interesting name. Well, I'm Major Pepper. I lead this company of 120 soldiers, 4 platoons of 30, 3 squads of 10 to each platoon-"

 _I didn't need to know all that,_ Dipper thought once more, starting to realize how extra this Major was.

"-I've served over six tours of Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, and Syria-"

 _Woah, isn't that too many tours?_ Dipper thought in alarm. He heard somewhere that after a third tour, soldiers begin to experience heavy effects of PTSD and trauma.

"-I have killed hundreds of Al Qaeda members, Hamas, and ISIS terrorists-"

 _Did I need to know that?_

"-I am an ex-Marine, ex-Navy SEALS, ex-CIA and FBI, ex-DELTA force-"

 _Am I allowed to know this? How many branches of government has he served in?!_

"-I've traveled around the world and seen all types of things-"

 _Why is he still talking?!_

"-And I've been in multiple combat situations, some of which are so traumatizing that the average soldier would have gone insane from just experiencing them."

As the Major finished up his tangent, Dipper was heavily reminded of a certain internet meme that was eerily similar to what this Major had done.

 _Grrruhhh._

Major Pepper looked down in surprise to the protest of his stomach, which was growling intensely. He grinned as he looked up.

"I think it's about time to chow down on some lunch."

With that, the group was called to a halt as lunch started. Military men climbed into the Spider Mule and began carrying out a couple containers, opening them to reveal food of all types.

Dipper, Mabel, and Stan received their lunches from the containers and went over to a circle and sat, eating. They began conversing and chatting amongst themselves. The other group members sat in their own respective circles, with the exception of a rotating group of military members that stood guard over the group.

"So-" Stan pointed to Major Pepper. "-Is that guy the head honcho here? I saw you talking to him earlier."

Dipper shrugged.

"I mean, he does lead the military company, but besides that, I can't imagine why he would have power over the group as a whole. I think the cave explorers also have a hand in leadership, but only when it comes to exploration and navigation rather than protection, safety, and routine."

Stan nodded.

"Makes sense. So, what's the deal with-"

He was suddenly interrupted by shouting from a group of army guys a couple meters away. Instinctively, everyone got up and began making their way over to the shouting.

"Who the hell are these kids?!"

Dipper's eyes widened as he laid his eyes upon a pair of kids standing together next to a knocked-over container. It was that girl that Dipper had met in the woods, along with some boy who was looking around nervously.

"Why are _you_ here?"

As the girl made eye contact with Dipper, her face lit up like a lightbulb.

"Dipper? Well hey there! And the name's Anna."

Unlike her counterpart accomplice, she looked completely unfazed by the situation, standing nonchalantly as she was surrounded by military men holding their rifles in alarm.

"Wha-what are you doing here?"

Anna shrugged.

"It sounded like there was gonna be an adventure here, so Eric and I decided to stow away in the containers."

Major Pepper stormed up to the girl, wearing a very unhappy expression.

"Do you have any sort of idea of consequences, child?! You've just sidled your dumb ass into one of the most important explorative missions in the history of this country! My lord, now we have to go haul your stupid asses back up to the-"

 _Rumble._

Major Pepper stopped his sentence as he heard something shake the very ground below everyone's feet. The atmosphere suddenly tensed up. Dipper felt a shiver crawl up his spine.

"What was...that?"

 _Rumble._

The ground shook once more, as if something was moving the rock around them. Dipper turned his head back to see how Allison was-

He felt fear begin to clutch at his heart as he saw Allison's pale face.

"What the hell is that?" Major Pepper shouted.

"But...these caverns are supposed to be stable! How is this possible?! We...we need to get out of here, now!" Allison said in panic.

 _ **RUUUUMMMMBBLLLLLLEEE!**_

Before anyone could react, the entire cavern suddenly shook violently, throwing several people off of their feet. Dipper staggered around, trying to gain his footing, along with Stan and Mabel.

It was then that Dipper heard the tumbling of rocks. He looked up to see several boulders cascading down from the slope they had come up. One of them headed straight for Dipper. Instinctively, Dipper dove out of the way.

 _ **SMASH!**_

Just in time, Dipper managed to evade the boulder as it smashed into the ground, breaking into pieces and causing the cavern to further rumble.

As Dipper scrambled to his feet, seeing the boulders beginning to tumble down, he looked around in a panic.

"LET'S GO! FOLLOW ME!"

His head swiveled over to see Allison leading people further down the path, running towards what seemed to be an opening into a bigger cave. He was about to follow suit when he heard a cry of pain from behind him. He turned around to witness Eric falling to the ground, his lower leg bent sickeningly. He was screaming in agony as Anna ran over, trying to lift him up. Without hesitation, Dipper dashed over and begin to pick up Eric. Anna quickly glanced up and nodded in appreciation.

As they were bringing Eric towards Allison, the cave around them was falling apart, with chunks of rock breaking off from the roof and smashing into the ground. Dipper called out where a rock was about to fall as Anna was the majority of the strength in carrying Eric.

After a few teeth-clenching close calls, the trio had finally gotten to Allison, who helped the three into the cave. Just as they got through the hole, the other room imploded, as the ceiling broke apart and came down, with boulders blocking up the entire cave itself.

Dipper was massively fatigued, and stressing out majorly after that incident. Looking up, he noticed that a few people were weeping on the floor. He felt a stab to his heart as he realized that not everyone had made it to safety.

"Oh my god, Eric, we need to get you treated." Anna said in worry, seeing the bent leg. Despite the pain he must have felt, Eric clenched his teeth and groaned in pain, rather than screaming any longer.

"That was...horrible."

Dipper looked over to see Allison, who had taken out a folder from a bag she was carrying. She flipped through the files, skimming over, as if she was looking for something in particular.

"This wasn't supposed to happen! They said that at least the first part of the tunnel would be stable!"

She seemed to be talking to herself, as if trying to reason with herself what had gone wrong. As she was looking through the folder, a thought pervaded Dipper's head.

 _Stan! Mabel!_

In a moment of absolute terror, Dipper whipped his gaze across the room, scanning the faces of the group. He sighed in utter relief as he spotted Stan and Mabel, comforting each other next to a group of military members.

He began to walk over when he saw something, a shadow, dash by. Was he seeing things? Maybe it was the stress…

He didn't even get a chance to consider that when he witnessed something rise up behind Stan and Mabel. His eyes widened as he saw several rows of teeth gleam in the luminescence of the cave.

"STAN! MABEL! WATCH OUT!"


	5. The First Encounter

**Suggestion** \- While reading these chapters, put on ambience music that will help simulate the environment in the story. Such recommended channels are the 'Guild of Ambience', 'Sword Coast Soundscapes', 'Pandora Journey', and 'The Spirit of Orchestral Music'.

You may not realize it, but using such background ambience enhances your reading of the story over 10 times more.

With that said, please enjoy the chapter.

* * *

 **Chapter 5: The First Encounter**

 _Everything seemed to move in slow-motion._

 _Dipper was frantically running towards Stan and Mabel, pointing at the creature looming behind them. People sitting around looked up towards him, not yet comprehending the threat he was trying to point out. Stan and Mabel themselves glanced behind them, curious as to what Dipper was pointing at._

Then, all hell broke loose.

" _ **RAUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!"**_

The creature let out a bone-chilling snarl, baring its teeth at the entire group. Some people screamed, others scrambled backwards in terror, and military members raised their weapons, pointing them at the creature.

As all this happened, the creature looked down at Stan and Mabel, who were looking upwards, utterly terrified of the sight before them. It opened its mouth and, with another snarl, thrusted its mouth at the two.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Dipper then tackled them both to the side, just as the monster chomped at the air where they were once standing. Its head swiveled towards Dipper, its snake-like eyes narrowing on Dipper.

"SHOOT THE MOTHERFUCKER!"

 _ **BRRT! BRRT! BRRT!**_

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

As soon as the trio was clear, the military began laying into the monstrous creature with heavy fire. The gunfire was deafening as it echoed around the chamber, and Dipper could barely think. He looked upwards and towards the creature, expecting it to be shot dead.

Yet, as his eyes glanced over, they widened in horror as he watched the bullets ping off of its scales. Despite the seemingly ineffective bullets, the creature itself leered back from the sheer force that the bullets carried, roaring in pain. It was sure to be taking plenty of bruising from the inside.

From where he was, Dipper was able to get a full look of what the group was facing. Over 10 meters tall, it looked like a gigantic snake, until Dipper noticed the elongated arms that were planted on the ground, claws shooting out from its gnarled palms. It was scaly from top to bottom, the exception being its mouth and eyes. The creature's top half was jutting out, while its bottom half was laying inside of a dark pit of water.

The creature's eyes darted around as it looked over its prey. Then, in a fit of anger, it brought one of its claws up and swiped it downwards.

 _ **CRUNCH!**_

Dipper witnessed the creature's palm come down on one of the soldiers shooting at it, crushing him to a pulp, sending blood and flesh flying in every direction. Dipper felt something wet sticking to his shirt, and he looked down to see a piece of the man's flesh had stuck to his shirt. Bits of blood were splattered across his body.

He screamed in horror, scrambling backwards and wiping the bits off of him, crying in fear. Meanwhile, the creature planted its hand on the ground once more, and began crawling towards a pack of soldiers clumped together a couple meters away. They continued to shoot at it, screaming in fear as it made its way towards them.

 _ **WHIZZ-SMACK!**_

" _ **RAAAAAUUUGGGHHHHHH!"**_

The creature screamed in pain as one of the bullets hit the creature's gum. Blood began pouring profusely from the wound, dripping onto the creature's teeth, giving the monster and even more sinister look before. It snarled at the soldiers and leapt at them.

 _ **CHOMP!**_

The creature closed its jaw on one of the soldiers, then raised its head up, shaking around the soldier from side to side mercilessly, his legs flailing around in shock.

With a final whip of its head, the lower half of the soldier ripped off from the rest, flying towards a cave explorer and smacking into her. The creature swallowed the soldier in its mouth, licking its lips contentedly. The whole scene caused screaming and vomiting from onlookers.

"ITS MOUTH! AIM FOR ITS FUCKING MOUTH!"

Amidst the chaos and pandemonium, Dipper could hear Major Pepper screaming at soldiers. Once they heard this, they began directing their shots at its mouth.

 _ **BRRT! BRRT! BRRT!**_

 _ **BANG! BANG! BANG!**_

It was extremely effective, as now the creature began to scream in pain, the bullets hitting the gums, teeth, and the inside of its mouth. Blood poured like crazy from its wounds, causing the creature to stagger on its limbs.

"DAVIS, TOSS A FUCKIN' 'NADE IN THAT SUMBITCH'S GAPING MAW!"

Immediately, one of the soldiers fumbled for a grenade strapped to his vest, but dropped it by accident, the pin having been released. Immediately, the nearest people dove away for cover.

 _ **BOOOM!**_

The grenade exploded, sending shrapnel in every direction. Cries of pain echoed throughout the cave as they were hit by the shrapnel.

Meanwhile, Dipper was gazing upon the whole thing in shell-shock. His brain began to tune out the gunshots, screaming, and roaring, replaced by a ringing noise in his ears. He looked around, not comprehending the situation before him. Faintly, he could hear the sounds of gunshots, screaming, and roaring in the background.

" _...Dipper…"_

…

…

…

" _...Dipper!..."_

…

…

…

"DIPPER!"

After a few moments, the ringing ended, once more replaced with the sounds of chaos. In front of him, shaking his shoulder violently was Stan, whose face was filled with terror and worry.

"We need to get the hell away from that _thing_!"

Dipper was still shaken, but managed to comprehend Stan's words. His head bobbled in a nodding motion, still in shock. Stan helped him up to his feet, and the two began to make their way towards the opposite end of the cabin, away from the creature.

The monster noticed this and directed its attention back towards them, snarling in fury. It began to rapidly crawl towards them, to which Stan picked up Dipper and began sprinting away. Despite his efforts, the monster was gaining on them fast, and they were almost in its reach within moments.

Eventually, Stan and Dipper reached the wall, and Stan turned around, gazing up at the terrifying thing before him. Seeing them cornered, the monster's mouth curled upwards, as if the creature was grinning. Its jaw unhinged, revealing its bloodied, jagged teeth.

"FUCK OFF, YOU DISGUSTING CREATURE FROM HELL!"

Accompanying the yell, a single grenade was lobbed out of nowhere, flying straight into the creature's gullet.

 _ **BOOOM!**_

The creature leered back as the grenade exploded inside of its mouth. It flailed around, gurgling as blood spilled in gallons from its maw. After a few more moments of desperate flailing, it finally fell to the side, its eyes glazing over, smoke billowing out of its bloodied mouth. Blood pooled around its head, stretching ever so slowly across the moist rock below.

Dipper looked over to his right to see Anna, panting heavily, bruised and battered. She was bleeding from minor wounds across her body, most likely from the shrapnel of the earlier grenade.

"Go...back to...hell…" She panted, falling to her knees in exhaustion.

Meanwhile, with the creature now clearly dead, the soldiers were lowering their weapons, some of them keeping their eyes on the monster, as if it might come back to life without warning.

The other people around the cavern calmed down somewhat, but were still severely shaken. Some of them were crying in shock and relief, others laying or sitting on the ground in exhaustion.

"Jesus fucking Christ…"

Dipper heard a voice from his right. It was Major Pepper, having taken off his cap and wiping his forehead of the perspiration. He was gazing with fear and anger upon the giant creature before them.

For a few moments, the large cavern was silent. Then, slowly, the sounds of weeping, nervous chatter, and other noises began to fill the air. Dipper noticed a couple soldiers walk over to the giant bloodstain that was the crushed military member and kneeled in front of it, grieving over their fallen friend, while another group of them made their way over to the lower half of the other dead soldier, gazing at it with fear and sorrow. The woman who had gotten hit with the severed body was curled up against the wall, shaking violently and sobbing.

Meanwhile, medical staff that were shaken out of their shock were rushing around, tending to the wounded.

"This is...this...what the fuck…"

Major Pepper was speechless. This whole event was absolutely horrible, and was nothing like he had expected. Dipper saw his face contort in anger as he turned around and began heading towards Allison, who had just gotten up, shaking, from where she was sitting on the floor a couple meters away.

 _SMACK!_

Allison's glasses flew off of her face as he head jerked to the side from the slap that had hit her square across the cheek.

"You fucking piece of shit!"

Major Pepper grabbed the scuff of her red jumpsuit, pulling her up to his face. She was staring at him with shock and fear, a red mark beginning to develop on her cheek.

"Was it your fucking plan to lead us into a _fuckfest_?! You told us, _assured_ me and my soldiers that you and your chicken-shit team were the best national cave exploration team, that we wouldn't get _fucked_ in these caverns! What kind of expedition are you leading?!"

Allison brought her shaky hands up as she quivered.

"I-I didn't expect _any_ of this! Th-this cave is not _anything_ like I-I was told!"

After a few seconds of intense, angry staring, the Major finally released the woman. She went over and picked up her glasses, putting them back on her face with quivering hands.

"This place is….so fucking _abnormal_. Despite the fact that the previous explorers identified the structure to be extremely solid, there was somehow a cave-in. And that _monster_ -"

She pointed to the creature lying meters away.

"-Is unlike _anything_ I've ever seen. Shit, I don't even think that _thing_ is from this planet. I just...we were only told to help navigate you guys through these caverns. I mean, sure, from what we saw of the last team, we expected there to be something hostile down here- that's why the military is down here, for fuck's sake! And yet…"

Her eyes welled with tears, and she ran her fingers through her hair. Overwhelmed with panic, confusion, and grief, she couldn't continue speaking.

The Major was silent. He was deliberating over what she had said. Meanwhile, Dipper was beginning to slowly fade out of his shell-shock, breaking down sobbing from the trauma he had experienced. Stan held him and Mabel against his chest, looking around at the others in the cavern. His face was grim.

"We're in for a shit show."


End file.
